Area 51

Existence of the base is not publicly acknowledged for security reasons
and civilian maps of the region carry no mention of it, only a travel restriction
warning. Eyewitness reports from individuals living near the compound testify
to unusual aerial activity, including strange craft flying over the mountains
and unexplained lights in the night sky. Such sightings are hardly surprising
considering that the US Air Force has for many years test flown some of
its most covert vehicles there, including the U-2 spy plane, the B-2 Stealth
bomber, and the SR-71 Blackbird. When objects as commonplace as Venus
or lozenge-shaped clouds can be taken for unidentified
flying objects, it should raise few eyebrows that new aircraft with
strange appearance, unfamiliar lighting, and extraordinary performance capabilities
might be similarly misinterpreted. Some of the latest piloted military hardware
can fly at speeds and in ways comparable to those claimed, in early flying
saucer books and films, for alien spacecraft in the Earth's atmosphere.
There are now something like genuine, intelligently-directed UFOs on this
planet – and they are human-built. Yet despite the obvious possibilities
for misidentification of secret planes with flying saucers, there are those
who insist that the Air Force is doing more in the wilderness of the Nevada
desert than test-flying the latest high-performance jets.

The claim from some ufologists is that Area 51 also serves as a facility
for examining captured extraterrestrial craft and alien corpses. This view
was popularized in the film Independence Day, the producers of which
were requested by the government to take out all references to Area 51.
When they refused, the government withdrew its offer to assist with the
movie. Such secrecy naturally serves to stoke the fires of speculation.
There are obvious reasons for the Department of Defense to keep the Nevada
installation out of the public eye if some of the most advanced military
hardware in the world is being put through its paces there. On the other
hand, the heavy blanket of security enveloping the base allows those who
want to put forward more extreme views can do so, safe in the knowledge
that it is just about impossible for them to be proved wrong.